Barbara Zaneri, Chief Program Acquisitions Officer at Paramount, is leaving the corporate after 25 years.
Zaneri is leaving to focus full-time on the nonprofit that she based – the Gold Star Companies Community, which honors Gold Star Households who’ve misplaced a beloved one attributable to U.S. army service.
The information was revealed by Paramount World Co-CEO Chris McCarthy in a be aware to employees, seen by Deadline.
McCarthy known as the transfer “bittersweet.”
“Anybody lucky sufficient to work with Barb, is aware of she is a real pressure of nature, blazing trails throughout the trade and main with imaginative and prescient, grit and empathy,” he wrote.
Paramount stated that Zaneri’s exit is unrelated to the current layoffs on the firm, which noticed it lay off 3.5% of its U.S. workforce, on prime of the 15% it shed final 12 months, because it struggles within the difficult media surroundings and underneath its personal protracted possession saga.
Zaneri began working on the firm at Spike TV, which was then generally known as TNN, becoming a member of from USA Broadcasting, which was then owned by Barry Diller. In 2014, she helped launch a centralized Program Acquisitions Group at Viacom Media Networks, main it as EVP, Program Acquisitions, alongside Comedy Central’s David Bernath. She was promoted to Chief Program Acquisitions Officer in 2021.
McCarthy paid tribute to her for “securing landmark offers” for acquisitions together with Pals, The Workplace, Seinfeld, The Massive Bang Principle, Household Man, and Two and a Half Males and lately closed offers for Paramount sequence Tracker, FBI, and Ghosts. “However past the offers and the accolades, what actually stands out is the impression Barb has had on the folks round her. Along with being a legendary dealmaker, she is a beneficiant mentor, a fierce advocate for others, and an expensive buddy. Her affect has formed the best way we expect, collaborate, and lead – and her impression has resonated deeply inside the firm,” he added.
Following Zaneri’s exit, Virginia Lazalde-McPherson will broaden her position. Lazalde-McPherson, who was most lately EVP and Head of Technique & Enterprise Operations, turns into Chief Acquisitions Officer for Showtime and MTV Leisure Studios.
McCarthy stated that Lazalde-McPherson has been “instrumental in guiding the model by way of a few of its most transformative years” together with the transfer to convey Showtime into Paramount+.
He known as her a “key artistic and strategic pressure” behind sequence resembling Yellowjackets, The Chi and Dexter: Unique Sin and “performed a number one position in bringing again” Michael C. Corridor for Dexter: Resurrection.
Lazalde-McPherson joined the corporate as EVP, Enterprise Affairs in 2019 after having spent three years at YouTube.
“Virginia leads with readability, collaboration, and a deep understanding of the place the trade is headed,” he wrote. “We couldn’t be extra excited to see her tackle this well-deserved and broader management place.”